The Ninth Koopaling
by Scarecrow314
Summary: Junior can't sleep, so he turns to Lemmy for comfort. As it turns out, Lemmy seems to need more comfort than Junior; his past has come to haunt him again. As Lemmy unfolds his tale, Junior realizes that there may be more to his family than he'd thought... Rated T just to be safe. (Cover made by Coooool123; kudos to her!)
1. Stormy Night

Dark Land was not known for sunny weather, but today, it seemed as if the skies had ripped themselves open, pouring noxious rain all over the volcanic landscape. The wind howled like a hound in agony, and Bowser Junior couldn't sleep at all. He hauled himself out of bed, wary of any creatures stirring around the castle as he wandered aimlessly through the winding hallways. A sigh resounded behind him, causing him to jolt in fear.

"Lemmy?"

Junior's older brother looked wistfully out of the rain-spattered window. He seemed troubled, which was odd for such an optimistic soul; Lemmy never seemed sad about anything. But here he was, tears crawling down his cheeks, obviously restraining a bout of sobbing. Bowser Jr. sat beside his brother.

"Lemmy," he repeated. "What's wrong?" Lemmy whipped his head around, clearly surprised that Junior was awake.

"Junior?" he said, bewildered. "Why are you up?"

"I couldn't sleep," he said bluntly. "You're sad. Why?"

Lemmy looked away. After a few moments, he turned to his youngest brother. "There are eight Koopalings," he said. "You, me, Ludwig, Iggy, Roy, Wendy, Larry, and Morty."

"Yeah," Junior shrugged. "So what?"

"Well," Lemmy choked, "there used to be nine of us. She died before you were born, so you wouldn't know about her. But…I do…and I miss her." He sobbed uncontrollably into his claws, memories flooding into his heart like a tidal wave.

"Another Koopaling?" Junior whispered in awe. "I had a sister?"

Lemmy nodded, the tears subsiding. "Her name was Patti," he recalled. "She died too young…much too young…"

"Tell me about her," Junior demanded. "Tell me about my sister."

"It's a sad story," Lemmy warned. "And a scary one. I don't want to scare you."

Junior shrugged. "I fight Mario all'a time. Why should I be scared?"

Lemmy shook his head, deciding that he wouldn't be able to dissuade his curious brother. Besides, despite what his sibling may say, Junior was a Koopaling too, and he had every right to know about his lost sister. "Well," Lemmy began, creasing his brow as he searched his memory, "it all started before you were born…before _I_ was born, even…"


	2. Heir to the Throne

**A/N: Sorry if my depiction of an orphanage is off. I've never seen one before, so I'm doing my best!**

Truth be told, the Koopa family was not the warmest of families. This seemed obvious enough, but they were even harsh among themselves; they had a history of fratricide, and even infanticide. Most of the marriages were arranged, and Bowser's was no exception; he had never fancied his wife Deimos, and Deimos simply loathed her husband. But there was no way out of it, and the King and Queen of Koopas spent several tedious years together.

Despite their hatred for each other, Bowser and Deimos knew that they must have an heir. Unfortunately, neither wanted to get anywhere near the other, so it was near impossible to produce the royal egg.

One day, Bowser had had enough of Deimos's ridiculousness. Why could they not just have a child? If Dark Land was left without a ruler, the kingdom would be doomed to fall. So, King Koopa decided to adopt a child. He knew it would come across as soft, to be saving a small child from a parentless life, but he convinced himself that it was the best thing to do for the country.

* * *

"Catch!" A young Koopa with a tuft of multicolored hair tossed a beach ball towards his playmates in the orphanage. The ball was caught by a small pink Koopa, who donned a pair of oversized shades. "Here, catch this, runt!" he bellowed, hurling the ball at another Koopa.

"Roy!" A bespectacled Koopaling gave a cry of pain, his colorful hair ruffled in frustration. "You almost broke my glasses!"

"Haha, little Iggy can't play ball!"

"I can, too!" Iggy threw himself upon his brother Roy, with whom he sparred with for several minutes. He was soon overpowered, and Roy stood over Iggy's crib in triumph. "Haha, you're a poopy!"

"He is not!" Lemmy huffed from another crib. "He's my bestest brother!"

During the brothers' riveting debate, a small girl Koopa was curled up in the corner of her crib. She had scarlet pigtails, kinked into a lightning-bolt shape. Her shell was a reddish-orange color, with black rings surrounding the tiny spikes. Usually, she was playing with her brothers and sisters, but today she was quiet and shy.

"What's wrong, Patti?" a bulky dark-skinned Koopa crawled towards his sister. "You gotta go dipey?"

Patti shook her head. "Why do grown-ups come in all'a time?" she wondered. "Why do they take all our friends away, Morton?" She recalled all the times when a new baby had been placed into their pen, and they'd had great times. But somehow, every single one ended up being taken into the arms of a cooing adult. They seemed so happy. Why couldn't they feel the same happiness?

Morton shrugged, apparently unconcerned. "Dunno. I hope they don't take me away." He fell back into his blanket, falling asleep almost instantly.

But Patti lay awake. Whatever happened once a baby was taken out of the door?

And would they ever experience it?

All of a sudden, Patti heard the door open in another room. She heard footsteps, then some grown-ups babbling about something. She peered over the bars of her crib to see a large, bulky Koopa through the window. He looked big and scary, but he didn't seem angry. In fact, he looked more worried than anything else. _He must be scared of the bogey-Koopa, _she decided. _He should get a teddy bear._

She watched as the Koopa talked to another adult, this one an elderly Toad, until he walked out of the room again. Baffled, she decided that the Koopa and the Toad must have been friends, and drifted off to sleep.

Days later, the same Koopa came back to the orphanage again. After he talked some more with the Toad lady, another Toad came into the room that Patti and her siblings were in. It was the same Toad that took away all the other babies! She held her breath, waiting to see what would happen next. The Toad walked along the rows of cribs until she found one baby in particular. To Patti's horror, she lifted the baby out of its crib.

"LUDWIG!" Patti cried, leaping out of her crib to save her brother. The other Koopalings awoke, startled at their sister's cry. When they saw Ludwig being carried by the Toad, they went delirious. The Toad let out a shriek as the tiny Koopas swarmed around her, biting and scratching until she let Ludwig go. Ludwig plopped to the ground with a thud, scurrying towards his brothers and sisters.

The Koopa and the elderly Toad rushed into the room to see what the commotion was. The Koopalings, though small, held their tiny heads up defiantly. "If you want to take Luddy," piped Wendy, the only other girl in the litter, "you gotta take us, too!" The other Koopalings murmured in agreement, and Iggy bit the Koopa's leg, causing him to roar.

_This can't be happening, _Bowser thought. _I need a heir! But I can't take all eight of them…can I? _He looked helplessly at the band of Koopas at his feet. _They do seem very formidable, _he noted. _Perhaps I can use them for my army when they grow up… _He nodded firmly, as though making a deal with one of his own age. "Alright," he said gruffly. "It's a deal. You can come with me."

The elderly Toad gasped. "You can't do that!" she protested.

"Oh, yes I can," Bowser retorted. "I'm the king, I can do whatever I want!" He showed his royal license.

Minutes later, he was driving home with eight small children in the backseat. They were all rather confused, and didn't know where they were nor where they were going. Iggy attempted to eat the seatbelt, eliciting rowdy chanting from his siblings, who were always up for a challenge. Ludwig, however, did not seem to care about whether Iggy ate the seatbelt or not, and settled with looking out the window for the rest of the ride. Patti soon became bored of Iggy's antics and turned to her eldest brother. "Luddy," she asked, "do you think we'll like where we're going?"

"I don't know," replied Ludwig. "I suppose we'll have to see."


	3. The Crystal Ball

**DISCLAIMER: As aforementioned, I do not own Super Mario or its characters. However, I would also like to add that I do not own Power Rangers either. (It will make sense later, believe me)**

"AAAUUGH!"

The Koopalings cowered at Deimos's horrified scream, scrambling behind their new father for protection. Deimos looked down at the small children, disgusted beyond belief. "What are these?" she demanded, her deep blue hair frazzled in rage.

Bowser recoiled at his wife's grating voice. "We need an heir," he pointed out. "And since _you _won't agree to have one yourself…"

"I thought I'd made it clear to you that I don't _want _an heir!" she screeched. "I DON'T LIKE KIDS! AND I CERTAINLY DON'T WANT ANY IN _MY _HOUSE!"

"_Your _house?" Bowser inquired reproachfully. "It is not your house. I am the king, so I have the upper hand." He smirked, silently thanking his ancestors for giving males the upper hand.

Deimos remembered the tradition as well, and her shoulders relaxed, although her sunken eyes flashed in fury. "You didn't need to take them all in," she said softly, hatred lacing her voice. "One prince would have served us fine."

The King of Koopas winced at the memories of the orphanage. "Well," he said, rubbing the bite-mark that Iggy had left on his foot, "they seem to be good fighters. We could use an addition to the army."

The Koopalings shivered behind Bowser's legs.

Bowser sighed. He had only just taken them in, and they were already scared out of their wits. "Go play," he said gently. "Daddy will see you after he's done talking with Mommy."

With a squeal of excitement, the siblings dispersed themselves around the castle. Bowser groaned, imagining the destruction that would soon take place. _Parenting is going to be harder than I imagined…_

* * *

"Ludwig," Morton asked curiously as he walked alongside his brothers. "What is an heir?"

"It's a prince," replied Ludwig. "To be more 'pecific, it's like a guy who's gotta wait his turn to be king."

"I thought it was the stuff you breathe," pondered Iggy, adjusting his oversized glasses. "Like this!" He proceeded to blow into Ludwig's face, delivering a few drops of spittle as well.

Ludwig rubbed the spittle his snout. "That's air," he grumbled. "We're talking about an heir."

"But that's what I said!" Iggy protested. "This wordy stuff is way too confuzzling!"

"Then don't waste your time on it," Ludwig said drily. "It'll do you good."

All of a sudden, they heard a crash coming from another room. Iggy and Morton raced excitedly towards the beautiful sound of destruction, but Ludwig lagged behind. He was grateful to have a break from his ignorant siblings.

* * *

"What have you done?!"

Patti and Larry were sitting next to a pile of broken vials, noxious gases emanating from the remains. Larry dropped his glass, pointing innocently at his sister. "She did it!" he accused in a singsong voice. Patti huffed impatiently. "I did not!" she insisted. "It was your idea!"

"ENOUGH!" The Magikoopa standing at the threshold of the library flailed his claws wildly about, obviously distressed by the young Koopas' presence. "What is the meaning of this?" he prompted indignantly. "Who are you?!"

Larry quailed at the Magikoopa's stern gesture, but Patti stood up, bowing comically. "I am Patti Koopa," she said formally, "and I like brownies and unicorns." She gave a charming smile, but the Magikoopa was unimpressed. "I don't care if you like unicorns and cookies," he said in a dangerously low voice. "Get out."

"Brownies," Patti corrected.

"What?"

"Brownies. I like brownies, not cookies," she explained. "But cookies are nice too."

"I DON'T CARE!" boomed the Magikoopa. "GET OUT!"

Before Patti could open her mouth again, Larry grabbed her arm and fled. "You dummy! You almost got us in trouble!"

"He wasn't very nice," noted Patti.

"Exactly!" Larry hissed. "He could have turned us into goopy stuff with that wand of his!"

Patti giggled. "Haha…you said goopy."

Larry stomped his tiny foot upon the ground. "So? It's true!"

"Yeah, but goopy sounds like poopy!" Patti giggled, toppling onto the ground in her glee. Ludwig, who had observed the two from the other side of the hallway, rolled his eyes disapprovingly. "That's not funny," he commented. "Anyone can say poopy."

Larry snickered, poking Ludwig's nose with his claw. "You said it, too."

Ludwig growled. "I don't care! What matters is that the grown-up saw you doing something bad. You're gonna get in trouble!" he said smugly.

"You're no fun, Ludwig," pouted Patti.

"Well, it won't be fun when the other grown-ups hear that you broke everything," he sneered, apparently amused by their predicament. "And then it'll be even not-funni_er_."

* * *

"YOU MEAN YOU ADOPTED EIGHT KIDS?!" the Magikoopa screamed in disbelief at the Koopa King. "Sire, when I told you to adopt an heir, I did not expect you to get EIGHT OF THEM!"

"Shut up, Kamek," Bowser growled. "The most we can do is keep 'em under control. If they cause any more trouble, that ol' witch will boot 'em out for sure."

"I'd be very happy if she did," Kamek said stuffily. "You know how much I hate kids."

"Huh, I never knew that," grunted Bowser. "Why do ya hate kids?"

Kamek remembered all his years acting as a foster parent for Bowser, which were less than rewarding. He could have sworn the burn marks still stung from time to time; one particular experience involving cowboy hats, duct tape, and an egg-beater particularly stood out for him, and he shuddered at the memories.

"I just do."

"Well, I _do _recall that you used to take care of me when I was a Koopaling," Bowser muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Suddenly, his face lit up. "Say, you could babysit the kids when I'm busy! It'll be just like the old days! After all, they're prolly just like I was, 'cept more of 'em."

Kamek grimaced. Eight times the pain. "No," he decided. "No, no, no, no, NO. Under _no_ circumstances will I care for eight tiny Bowsers."

"Well, if you don't," Bowser yawned, revealing several rows of sharp teeth, "then you'll have to deal with me. And I'm much more painful than a couple of babies."

And so it was that day that Kamek was chosen to act as a nanny to the Koopalings, and to keep them in check. It was only a week until he was needed for his first job.

"You be good," Bowser warned the children. "I'll be back in just a couple of hours. And by a couple, I mean half a day," he added under his breath.

"We'll be good!" piped Lemmy. "We'll be the bestest good guys you ever saw!"

This seemed to assure Bowser enough, and he was out the door in a heartbeat. After the Koopalings looked around confusedly for a few moments, Lemmy started squalling for his father. He was joined by seven other voices, all demanding Bowser to come back. Kamek was well used to this, and started carrying the children into the living room. _It's like a nightmare come back to haunt me…_

"Calm down, children," he said anxiously, praying that they would just go take a nap and leave him alone. "If you take a nap, Daddy will come back right when you wake up."

The Koopalings stopped crying almost instantly. "We don't wanna take a nap," protested Patti, her eyes suspiciously dry. "We wanna play pretend!" This was followed by a murmur of agreement from her siblings, and Kamek sighed in defeat. He knew the consequences of refusing a game of pretend to a young child. "Alright," he said. "You can play pretend."

"Hooray!" they cheered, bouncing around the room excitedly. "I wanna be Red Ranger!" Roy barked.

Iggy frowned. "But _I _want to be Red Ranger!"

"Well, I had it first, runt!" Roy tackled Iggy, who flailed about trying to fight back. Soon, all of the Koopalings were pummeling each other in a fight to the death to see who could be the Red Ranger.

"ENOUGH!" cried Kamek, his patience already draining. "How about we DON'T play Power Rangers, and we play hide-and-seek instead? I'll be the seeker."

The Koopalings gasped; although they, admittedly, did not care for playing hide-and-seek, they refused to be found first. To be found first in a game of hide-and-seek was a blow to any respectable child's dignity, and the Koopalings scurried away to find the best hiding spot they possibly could. With a sigh of relief, Kamek plopped onto the couch with a book. Hopefully, they would stay in their hiding spots until Bowser came home.

"Found you!"

Kamek emitted a startled gasp, dropping his books onto the ground. He turned his head to see Roy Koopa standing next to him with a broad grin plastered to his face. "I found you," he repeated, slapping the Magikoopa on the arm. Kamek rubbed the bruise with a confused look. "I thought…but you said…wasn't I it?"

"Yeah," Roy shrugged, "but we got bored. So, now I'm it, and you have to help me find ev'rybody!" Without waiting for a response, Roy grabbed Kamek's claw and pulled him up the stairs.

* * *

"Heh heh…heh heh heh…"

"Stop giggling, Iggy!" hissed Wendy. "Roy's gonna find us!"

"I can't," protested Iggy. "It's so funny!"

"What is?"

"I dunno!" Iggy burst out into manic laughter, rolling on the carpet underneath the table they were hiding under. Wendy was not amused. She attempted to bash her brother over her head, but before she could do any damage, she saw a soft light coming from her mother's room.

"Whazzat?" she whispered. Iggy turned his head towards the light as well, but he wasn't very impressed. "I bet it's just the moon. Now, come on, let's go hide!"

Wendy disregarded Iggy's demands, and proceeded to crawl into the room. She saw the lean figure of her mother, her snakeskin boa illuminated by a glowing crystal ball.

"Mommy?" she murmured in disbelief. She had been told that Deimos was out settling a dispute between the inhabitants of Dark Land, but here she was, sitting in her room with some sort of Magic 8-Ball. Curious, she peered in for a better look.

The room was dark, but the eerie blue glow of the crystal globe shone into Deimos's crimson eyes, as if they had been set on fire. She murmured some Latin phrases as she made exotic gestures in the face of the glassy surface of the sphere; although Wendy couldn't understand what she was saying at all, the words sounded dark and mysterious, and they sent a shiver down her spine. Finally, as if it were a mirror, the ball reflected a face. But the face was not her own. As Wendy looked closer, she thought she could see horns...large horns, and bushy red hair…was that her father?

Deimos's lips began to form a smile, but it wasn't a friendly smile; it was one of those thin, sinister smiles that make one feel uneasy. "So," she whispered to herself, "it seems that you are the next to die. How tragic…for you." She tossed her indigo hair over her shoulder nonchalantly, as if she did these sorts of things every day. For all Wendy knew, she did, and this was enough to send her scuttling away into the hall.

"Oomph!"

Iggy adjusted his glasses, which had fallen after he'd awkwardly bumped into his sister. "What's wrong, Glitter Girl? You look like you just saw a ghost!" Wendy opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it. She shook her head. "Nothing's the matter," she mumbled, still bewildered by her sights in Deimos's room.

Iggy didn't seem to sense her distress. "Well, come on!" he beckoned. Kamek and Roy almost found me out there!

Wendy nodded, but she was only half-listening. She could not get her mind off of Deimos's crystal ball. What did it all mean? Was her father really going to die?


End file.
